On August 11, 2001--one month before the Twin Towers came tumbling down--my life changed dramatically. On that date, my grandson, Kevin Kowalcyk, died of an E. coli O157:H7 infection. It was a horrible death and picking up the pieces afterwards was hard. My daughter, her husband and their surviving child were devastated, and complicating the grief, Barbara was pregnant with her third child.
In March 2002, the family was asked to participate in a demonstration in Washington D.C. The issue was this: The 1996 “Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points” meat and poultry regulations had provisions giving USDA the authority to shut down plants that repeatedly failed microbial performance standards. One Texas plant, Supreme Beef (a supplier for the national school lunch program) had failed those standards in 1998 and USDA had shut them down.
Within one day, Supreme Beef was reopened by court order. A legal battle ensued for the next 1½ years until a federal appeals court ruled that USDA did not have the authority to shut down plants for failing PR/HACCP’s performance standards. This was a huge blow!
The food safety world reacted by arranging a demonstration to show outrage against the government’s decision to not appeal the Supreme Beef ruling. Barbara could not travel, so other family members went and carried pictures of Kevin and signs saying “No more dirty meat!” Kevin’s father, Mike Kowalcyk, stood next to Senators Harkin, Durbin and Clinton as the Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act of 2002 was introduced.
By the time the new baby arrived, Barb and I had started a petition asking Members of Congress to support the new meat and poultry bill. In May 2003, when the bill was re-introduced in the 108th Congress, we presented Senator Harkin with a box containing 6,000 signatures from 36 states, and he renamed the bill, calling it Kevin’s Law.
The first task in passing legislation is to get a bill moved out of committee. This is no easy task. Barb and I met with Congressional offices and held briefings highlighting victims’ stories and the gaps in America’s food protections. We hoped for hearings but nothing happened.
In January 2005, Congresswoman DeLauro introduced the Safe Food Act in the 109th Congress. It was a comprehensive bill that combined many of the stand-alone pieces of food safety legislation, including Kevin’s Law. In July 2005, Senator Harkin and Congresswoman Eshoo re-introduced Kevin’s Law for the last time.
The E. coli O157:H7/spinach outbreak of 2006 was a watershed event for food safety. It was similar to the Jack-in-the-Box/hamburger outbreak of 1993, except this time produce and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was the focus, not USDA. (FYI for readers: In America, food oversight is divided between multiple governmental departments, but generally, USDA oversees, meat, poultry and egg products, while FDA regulates all other food products.)
Barb and I were devastated as the reports of illnesses and deaths were made public during the 2006 spinach outbreak. We wanted to prevent large foodborne illness outbreaks, but despite our 4 years of hard work, here it was again. Two months later, we founded the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention, focusing our organization on research and education, as well as on advocacy and service. CFI is rooted into the belief that without increased research on foodborne illness and food safety topics, America will not be able to develop the preventive strategies needed to meet the food challenges of the 21st century.
Shortly after CFI was formed, Barbara was approached by Eric Schlosser to participate in a documentary that he was developing with film-director Robbie Kenner. Basically, CFI’s role was to “put a face” on the impact of serious foodborne illness, along with showing our advocacy efforts. CFI agreed--we felt that this type of movie would raise awareness about the gaps in America’s food protection systems, and we are very pleased that Food Inc. has so effectively achieved that goal!
Likewise, CFI is very excited that the 111th Congress is considering food safety legislation. Since the 2006 spinach outbreak, America has experienced outbreaks involving peanut butter (twice!), tomatoes, peppers and cookie dough. In January 2009, President Obama and the Government Accountability Office declared food safety a high priority. Everyone agrees: This is a bi-partisan issue. FDA needs to be reformed.
Enacting new food safety legislation is long overdue--the last significant food safety legislation to reform FDA was passed in 1938. CFI supports both the House version (H.R. 2749) and the Senate version (S. 510) because these bills are focused on giving the FDA the authorities and resources it needs to carry out its food oversight tasks. S. 510 and H.R. 2749 were designed to shift FDA’s regulatory approach from reaction to prevention, establish minimum inspection frequencies, require that food processors establish food-safety plans, and grant FDA mandatory recall authority. Included in both bills is one of the cornerstones of Kevin’s law--a specific requirement that the government (in this case FDA) set mandatory, enforceable performance standards for microbial contamination.
H.R. 2749 was passed overwhelming by the House last July by a wide majority and to great acclaim from both parties. Consumer, public health, and victim advocacy groups, as well as food industry trade associations, strongly supported the bill. The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee approved S. 510, a bipartisan measure, in November 2009. Now, the Senate leadership must schedule a vote on S. 510 before more families experience the pain and suffering that our family has suffered. The measures included in this bill will help prevent foodborne illness, thereby reducing the public health and financial burdens associated with these devastating infectious diseases.
Getting the Senate to act soon is crucially important if the 111th Congress hopes to pass food safety legislation! For more information about S. 510 and to contact your Senator to urge a floor vote on S. 510, go to the Make Our Food Safe (MOFS) coalition website and click on the “Take Action” button. CFI is a member of MOFS and urges you to act quickly so that important food protections can be secured for American consumers.
Finally, CFI invites you to visit its website for more information on our programs and our positions on food safety topics. Working together, we can affect change!
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